Discover Australia's Aboriginal culture and explore the rugged beauty of the Lower Cape on this 2-day small-group tour of Cooktown from Cairns or Port Douglas. You pass through World Heritage-listed Daintree National Park and the famous Bloomfield Track by 4×4, travel with a traditional storyteller from the Nugal-warra clan and see their ancestral art on ancient rocks. The tour includes an overnight stay in Cooktown, Australia's first non-Aboriginal settlement.
Highlights
- Done in English
- Multi-day trip
- Personalized service for small groups
- Professional, friendly and informative guide
- Lunch included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off included
Day 1 – Cairns, Northern Beach and Port Douglas to Cooktown
You will be picked up with an air-conditioned 4×4 for the journey north along Captain Cook Highway, one of Australia's most scenic coastal drives. After crossing the mighty Daintree River on a cable ferry, travel through the spectacular Daintree National Park, home to the largest number of rare or endangered plant and animal species in the world. Along the way, your knowledgeable guide will share anecdotes and history with you as you continue to ride in a 4×4 on Bloomfield's only track through some of Australia's most incredible scenery. Stop for lunch at the famous Lion's Den Hotel (established in 1875), one of the oldest pubs in Queensland's northern bush. Continue to the unique geological curiosity of the Montagne Noire, shrouded in mysteries and ancient Aboriginal legends. Arriving in Cooktown, have your camera ready for a 360-degree panoramic view of Cooktown's Grassy Hill and the Endeavor River. You will spend the night in Cooktown.
Day 2 – Cooktown to Cairns, Northern Beaches and Port Douglas
This morning you will be picked up from your accommodation by Willie Gordon, an old Nugal-warra. Willie brings you to the rock art sites of his ancestors, set in stunning countryside on the hills above Hope Vale, 40 minutes from Cooktown. You travel by road through spectacular scenery to six rock art sites, including the Ancestral Birth Cave, the Reconciliation Cave. Willie will give you amazing insight into Aboriginal society and spirituality and get you thinking about your own relationship to the land and how the traditional ways of its people can apply to all of us. (closed shoes must be worn on this tour).
You will have free time to explore Cooktown before returning to Port Douglas or Cairns in the afternoon. On the return trip, travel the Mulligan Highway through a diverse landscape of cattle ranches and the gold-bearing Palmer Country, Queensland's far north bushland.
Detailed schedule
Starting point :
Tour departs from the most centrally located hotels in Cairns, Northern Beach and Port Douglas, including residential addresses
Departure time :
- Cairns 07h00
- The Northern beaches 07:30 a.m.
- Port Douglas 08h30
Return details:
Return to Cairns at approximately 21:30 p.m., Northern Beach at 21:00 p.m. and Port Douglas at 20:30 p.m. on Day 2
